These are a lot of songs that have been written either from the prayer room or from spending time with God and letting Him speak and sing melodies over me. That’s how I’ve gone about writing the album.

In celebration of the EP’s release, which coincides closely with her marriage to husband, Kendrian Dueck, Lauren took time in a recent interview to discuss Victorious in Love:

How long have you wanted to record an album?
It’s something that’s been a dream in my heart for a long time. My hope was to not pursue it on my own, but let God open the doors when it was time.

In past four to five years that I’ve been at IHOPKC, I’ve been writing songs and doing them here and there in the prayer room and for specials for services, but as far as recording, people would ask, “When are you going to do an album?” But I felt this “wait on the right time” catch on the inside.

How did it come about?
Forerunner Music literally approached me and asked if I was ready to do this, if I had a list of songs that I would want to put on an album. At that point, I did, so we moved forward with it, and I felt peace about the timing.

What’s your favorite moment?
I think my favorite was on the song I wrote called “Found.” When we started putting the album together, I had the barebones to the song. I said, “I have this song, it’s not done yet. Give it a listen and see if there’s anything we can do with it.”

I got to sit in a live recording session with an entire string section. Just sitting there and watching them play my song was incredible, an incredible moment.

How would you describe the songs on the EP?
It’s kind of a diverse collection of songs, which is kind of fun.

When I went into the album, I had the idea that they were all going to be very similar in style and sound, and kind of flow together, but it actually ended up that they’re all more diverse. One of the songs went in more of a pop direction, and then there are other songs that are a little bit more R&B.

Take us into your worship and songwriting journey
One of the songs that’s probably the best known is called “Flood My Soul.” I did it for a special offering at Onething this year. That song I wrote a really long time ago. I was driving in the car and started singing into my iPhone and put it together from that point.

That song has taken on a different meaning for me through the years. It’s based on the Scripture, “Your waves and breakers crash over me.” (Ps. 42:7). In my mind when I first wrote it, I saw it as a beautiful picture of God coming in with His waves of His love crashing over us. It’s beautiful and it washes over us and it encourages us and gives us hope and love. But I’ve learned throughout the years that that verse actually is talking about trials—it’s talking about some of the hardships that we go through.

I sing that song a lot differently now, because the chorus says “Flood my soul. Hold nothing back now.” Now it’s a heart cry of, “Lord, whatever You want to flood my life with, whenever even trial or pain comes, whatever can cause me to love You more, that’s what I’m after.” And so, that’s been a newfound meaning in that song that has become a favorite when I sing it.

Who has encouraged you in the process?
I have a lot of really great people in my life who have mentored me and encouraged me to do it. Someone that really stands out to me is Misty Edwards.

When we first started talking about doing the project, I came to her and said, “I don’t know how to do this,” and she responded with “I understand.”

I brought to her all of these things that I was thinking. This whole process of doing an album, it’s actually very vulnerable. Sharing your songs is like sharing your heart with a bunch of people.

She’s done so many projects. Actually the most encouraging thing, was, she’s like, “this isn’t the last. Whatever happens and doesn’t happen the way you want it to, you always have the opportunity to do more and create and go from there.” She’s been a really encouraging person throughout this process.

My fiancée (now husband) has been super encouraging. He’s seen it all, the raw and the real, the emotions of doing an album, and he has really encouraged me to keep going and keep pressing in and getting it done. He sings on one of the songs, “Unknown Places.”

We definitely plan to keep doing music together. We’ve been writing a lot in the past year, and hope to do an album together this year.

What can listeners expect?
This is my first release. It’s more of an artist project.

These are a lot of songs that have been written either from the prayer room or from spending time with God and letting Him speak and sing melodies over me. That’s how I’ve gone about writing the album.

I think they’ll recognize some of the choruses that I do pretty often in the prayer room. During the season of writing songs, I would bring them out and see where something went in the prayer room and try to turn it into a song. It’s kind of similar but different in the way that it’s more of a put-together version of what I do in the prayer room.

Adam Wittenberg

position

A Detroit native who was raised in Vermont and Connecticut, Adam worked as a newspaper journalist until 2012, when he moved to Kansas City to complete the Intro to IHOPKC internship. Afterwards, he earned a four-year certificate in House of Prayer Leadership from IHOPU and is now on full-time staff in the Marketing department at IHOPKC. Adam is also active in evangelism and has a vision to reach people everywhere with the good news of Jesus Christ.

As I made the daily decision to come out of the chaos and confusion of what was surrounding us, lock eyes with Father, and cling to His affection and dream for our lives, we were strengthened to survive another day.

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